Greyhound Handicap: Should You Play Road Racing?

In my opinion, road racing can give you the best bang for your buck in handicap. While there aren’t as many as sprints, this isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. Most bettors tend to treat them the same as sprints and handicap them that way. While there are some punters who just skip them and turn the page to the next 5/16 distance race.

I love the longer breeds. From 3/8 to marathon racing, I have found value in abundance. Of course, there are a few things to keep in mind when handicapping this length race. For one, early speed, while still important, isn’t quite the big factor that it is in shorter races. There is more time for closers to get on the wire. There is more room for dogs to maneuver and get into the position they need to win, and this can mean that dogs that get into trouble in sprints manage to avoid it and hit the dash in longer races.

Another reason I love routes is because there ARE fewer routes, it’s easier to follow dogs that are true routers. At some point in my life as a disabled person, I have saved each 3/8 mile race page, stapled them together, and refer to them when I do each disability program. It’s pretty easy to see who is moving up or down a grade and who can beat whom. After all, many of the same dogs compete against each other, race after race.

Of course, there are some dogs, though not that many, that seem to be able to move between short and long breeds without a problem. These are the dogs to keep a list of, because people forget that these dogs are multi-talented. They see that a dog has been running sprints and is now on a course and they can’t see that he ever won the longest distance, so they don’t play.

But if you’ve done your homework and know this dog has won at this distance in the past, you’re way ahead of the casual gamer, who only knows what the last six races on the show tell him. That’s why it’s good to take notes about dogs and review them from time to time. Things change and you have to keep checking the results and the dogs that are at different stages of their careers so that you are aware of the changes.

So if you’ve never been a fan of distance running, maybe you should take a second look at it. Consider following them for a while and see how you do. Look at the best dogs for this type of breed in the statistics and also see which kennels have the best dogs for them. Some kennels seem to specialize in dogs that can win over the longest distances. After all, anything that can give you an advantage over the crowd is an advantage, and specializing in a type of career to the point where you know it in depth gives you a huge advantage over people who don’t even try to figure out.